Thread: Is the cost of a payment gateway a hindrance to start-ups?

A lot of my clients would be smaller and so just use PayPal as there is no set up or annual fee. Everyone seems happy enough with it as the Irish are getting more used to seeing and using PayPal.

I have a few that use World Pay and are happy enough. They chose it because it has an offline terminal feature so they could use at trade shows, markets, etc.

Not one has gone for getting a merchant account - all the paper work and fees. I've heard that it's gotten better, but I haven't had any clients that want to go with it.

The cost can be considerable for an existing business, never mind a starting one, particualry with some having a minimum transactions per months etc. Paypal is great in the sens that it si free to set up and there is no minimum charges but doesn't necessarely look the best on a site, quiet limited in the way you can customise.

I have not looked in a long time, but back a few years ago you could get a proper CC payment system on your site for a flat cost of $25 per month or something, if you were a US business that is, where here it was....set up fee + monthly charges + percentage per transaction etc... = 4 or 5 times more expansive.

Originally Posted by oliflorence

The cost can be considerable for an existing business, never mind a starting one, particualry with some having a minimum transactions per months etc.

Can someone give me a ballpark estimate of these costs please..?

I'm currently using paypal for the online shop of my bricks-and-mortar biz, but I was planning on going down the Merchant Account route in the next 2-3 months in order to start accepting Laser Cards online.

It sounds like I need to do a bit of cost/benefit here.

Not sure if it is still the case, I had done costing a few years ago and found that Realex was more expensive than Worldpay for up to €30k of payment by CC per year.
At the time, if I remember well, Worldpay had a set up cost of £170, an annual cost of £100, 4% on all transactions, a remittance fee of about £10 per month, plus they were keeping the money for some weeks. This was based on a customer with AIB for realex and including the charges from the bank itself.
Bare in mind that this was a few years ago, the sterling was much stronger and charges might have changed. I guess contacting your bank would be the first step.

Also to consider, Realex is in Dublin if you need support....

I have encountered a large number of clients who opt for PayPal instead of an internet merchant account (IMA) and a payment gateway. This is always based on cost or at least the perceived cost. With an IMA and a payment gateway there are monthly minimums that have to paid be so if the client has a slow month they still have to make these payments, with paypal they only pay when they make a sale so this tends to be a big selling point for them. The arrival of Protx/Sagepay in Ireland may bring about some change in this area are due to their pricing structures.